The National Health Service has become the butt of increasingly outlandish political attacks in the US as Republicans and conservative campaigners rail against Britain's "socialist" system as part of a tussle to defeat Barack Obama's proposals for broader government involvement in healthcare.
Top-ranking Republicans have joined bloggers and well-funded free market organisations in scorning the NHS for its waiting lists and for "rationing" the availability of expensive treatments.
As myths and half-truths circulate, British diplomats in the US are treading a delicate line in correcting falsehoods while trying to stay out of a vicious domestic dogfight over the future of American health policy.
Slickly produced television advertisements trumpet the alleged failures of the NHS's 61-year tradition of tax-funded healthcare. To the dismay of British healthcare professionals, US critics have accused the service of putting an "Orwellian" financial cap on the value on human life, of allowing elderly people to die untreated and, in one case, for driving a despairing dental patient to mend his teeth with superglue.
More at
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2009/aug/11/nhs-united-states-republican-health--------------------------------------------------------
Now here are some of the readers' comments from the same URL:
As a Brit currently living in Canada, the general noise that the American "debate" on healthcare reform is generating is quite awe inspiring. What is distinctly less inspirational is the tone, content and vitriol that seems to be the main content of much of the Right's opposition to reform. It is ironic that a country that will trust 'big government' to run such an astoundingly large military seems to think that it is incapable of running healthcare. And this is despite the healthcare for ex- and current soldiers being (in American terms at least) pretty good...
An American friend was horrified when she realised she was going to give birth to her first child in the UK - until her ante-natal visit to the maternity unit. My sister was with her, and our friend was astonished to find the NHS was as well-equipped as any US hospital. They're told the UK's healthcare is like that of a third-world country.
Having suffered from asthma all my life I can say with hand on heart...
In the US I would be dead by now.
I worked in the NHS as a nurse during my clinical training, and I was amazed at the excellent service given to patients. It's not perfect, but it's universal. America should be ASHAMED at its disgusting health-care system. It's one of the worst in the world, simply because it only treats people if they have insurance or a credit card at the ready.
I am a NHS doctor and worked in American for one year in 2004. I was offered a good position to stay on but decided to return to the UK due to the 'ridiculous' health care system there. I saw elderly patients frequently complaining about unable to afford the cost of medications, young people with no insurance relying on charity on paying off their RTA injuries. Patients arguing with 'profit-driven' insurance company about the small print exclusions in their policy and doctors doing unnecessary investigations/treatments to boost their incomes.
Yes the NHS is not particularly brilliant as a luxury service. The ultra-rich will always be better off with personal medical care. But why should government worry about the ultra-rich? They can take care of themselves. Surely government exists to take care of the people who need help. Which of course is a strong "socialist" opinion that people here in the States don't agree with. I fail to understand how you can disagree though - it's fundamental.
effing yanks can take their crummy life expectancy and massive medical bills and piss off as far as I'm concerned. Having experienced the US system for many years I've come to realize it's utterly crap, so why it's now being defended by right-wing wing-nuts I've no idea.
I live in Britain now, and while the NHS certainly has its problems, I wouldn't trade it for the vastly inequitable US system, nor do I grudge a penny that comes out of my pay to support it. One of the unexpected and gratifying facets of living with national health care, aside from that first time waiting in line with your cheque book and a sinking heart, only to be told you've already paid for it, is the almighty stink raised by the public in the face of NHS failure. There's a degree of accountability here that may in fact be fueling the fracas on other side of the pond: when the NHS screws up, it's visible. That's a product of public health care itself: the public own it, so the public feel justified in shouting at their elected representatives about it, and do, on a regular basis.
There are many more comments where these from. :-)
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